September 22, 2025
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The Sixers will kick off the 2025-26 season with their Media Day this week. What will be revealed about Joel Embiid?
For months, Sixers players, coaches and executives alike have been antsy to right the wrong that was the 2024-25 campaign.
Now, their chance is nearing.
The 2025-26 Sixers season officially begins this week, and after a nightmarish 24-58 season last year all of the returning parties are hopeful to prove the misery it brought was a one-off. But they carry the burden of proof, and it will take a whole lot of evidence to win over a jaded fan base.
For the 24th and final time of the 2025 offseason... beginning the week with 5 Sixers thoughts, from what to expect at Media Day to a Sixers-centric charity event held over the weekend:
On Friday morning, the new year officially begins for the Sixers when they hold their annual Media Day. President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey will speak, along with head coach Nick Nurse and then the rest of the players under contracts will speak to the media.
Some Media Days are more eventful than others; the Sixers tend to have louder ones than most teams. This year there will be a few obvious situations the Sixers will definitely be asked about for updates. Ironically, all of them have to do with left knees:
• What is the status of Joel Embiid? Embiid played in only 19 games last season due to continued issues with his knee, was ruled out for the remainder of the campaign in February and underwent an arthroscopic procedure in April. That surgery came with a six-week reevaluation period; the Sixers have not provided any official updates on his status since it happened.
• Will Paul George be ready for the season? George only made 41 appearances in his debut season with the Sixers because of a litany of injuries, including two different left knee bone bruises. George also dealt with finger and groin issues, with the groin ailment being the one to officially end his season. Morey said in July that he was optimistic George would "show Philadelphia fans what he can do," and days later news broke that the nine-time All-Star had once again injured his left knee. He underwent a scope done by the same doctor as Embiid's and the Sixers said he would be reevaluated prior to the start of training camp.
• Is Jared McCain at full health? McCain suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee in December, cutting short a dynamic rookie season after just 23 games. He underwent a meniscus repair, a surgery requiring a lengthy recovery. But more than nine months have passed. McCain said earlier this month that he was "on pace" to be ready for training camp.
Of course, if restricted free agent Quentin Grimes is still unsigned on Friday morning, that will become a central focus of the day as well.
On Saturday night, Morey, his wife and 13-year NBA veteran Shane Battier hosted a charity event in Philadelphia for Battier's Take Charge Foundation benefiting underserved youth in the area.
The Sixers' lead decision-maker is a passionate ping pong player, so for the second year in a row the event centered around table tennis.
Among the folks at the event were Morey, a few of his lieutenants in the front office and some assistant coaches. On the player side: rookies Johni Broome and Hunter Sallis and returners Kelly Oubre Jr. and Adem Bona.
There were many amusing matchups across the tables, with Oubre and Bona and their massive reaches being at the top of the list:
Kelly Oubre Jr. and Adem Bona join the fun: pic.twitter.com/487hBTDs4x
— Adam Aaronson (@SixersAdam) September 20, 2025
Morey said that basketball players "don't tend to be good" at ping pong, though some international players have been in his experience (he named Goran Dragić as one he has seen). For what it's worth, Oubre arrived shortly after Morey's comments and looked better than any of the other Sixers in attendance.
"I have to find sports where I can compete with them," Morey said, "because it's for sure not basketball."
What drew Morey to ping pong?
"So if you grew up in rural Ohio like us, there's really not much else... Pretty much every sort of nerd-type activity, that's what I did, because there's nothing better to do in Ohio."
If there was one thing to note from Morey's availability on Saturday, it would be his responses when asked about the Sixers' extensive group runs in Camden of late.
The team has been posting plenty of pictures and videos from large group workouts, where, as Morey described it, "pretty much the whole team" has been in attendance.
the grind continues. ➡️@PennMedicine pic.twitter.com/KcEi0a3T3F
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) September 19, 2025
After raving about the value of the early work Sixers players are getting in, Morey was asked if anyone has been particularly responsible for organizing it all.
"It's been a group effort, but Tyrese Maxey has [provided] a really push of that, both in-market in Camden and he also has organized runs in Dallas and [Los Angeles] as well," Morey said. "He's really stepped up into a big leadership role as he has in the past, but I could see him even becoming a more out-front leader of the team this year."
MORE: What role enables Sixers to get the best out of Maxey?
As Morey was speaking, the player he drafted at No. 41 overall last summer made his triumphant return to Philadelphia.
Bona greeted teammates and coaches for the first time since his run to the final game of EuroBasket on the Turkish national team. The excitement across the room to see Bona was only outpaced by Bona's excitement.
Bona is a veteran of international competition, but had never played in EuroBasket, the main competition within Europe. He backed up Houston Rockets center Alperen Şengün and played a pivotal role for a team that made a much deeper run than it ever has in Bona's lifetime.
How could Bona's experience in such high-stakes action prepare him for his second NBA season?
“I think it gives him a lot of confidence. Obviously he had a really strong run for us towards the end of the year, an opportunity he may not have gotten without a lot of the injuries," Morey said. "But then to also do it on the highest stage in the offseason, I think just has him come in with a lot of confidence – and the fact that just like our season, he improved and played more minutes and did more with the Turkish team as it went along. So it just shows his trajectory is up and up.”
Bona should be considered the clear favorite to back up Embiid; he did more than enough to surpass Andre Drummond within the pecking order. He had a long summer and has an important season ahead.
MORE: Adem Bona season preview
A rundown of everything we know about the Sixers' unconventional preseason schedule:
| Date | Event |
| Sept. 26 | Media Day |
| Sept. 27 | First official practice |
| Sept. 28 | Second official practice |
| Sept. 28 | Depart for Abu Dhabi |
| Oct. 2 | Preseason game @ New York (in Abu Dhabi, 12:00 p.m. ET) |
| Oct. 4 | Preseason game vs. New York (in Abu Dhabi, 11:00 a.m. ET) |
| Oct. 10 | Preseason game vs. Orlando (7:00 p.m. ET) |
| Oct. 17 | Preseason game vs. Minnesota (7:00 p.m. ET) |
So after returning from Abu Dhabi following the second game against the Knicks, the Sixers will have plenty of practice days before and after each of their two home exhibitions. It should help make up for a truncated slate of practices before their preseason action kicks off.
For all of the details one could ever ask for about the Sixers' schedule for the 2025-26 regular season, click here.
